Steve McQueen honoured with BFI Fellowship

Steve McQueen won the Oscar for best picture for 12 Years A Slave in 2014

12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen is to get the British Film Institute's highest honour, the BFI Fellowship.

McQueen, the only person to have won both the best picture Oscar and the Turner Prize, will accept the accolade at the London Film Festival in October.

As well as his Oscar-winning drama, McQueen has also directed the feature films Hunger and Shame.

He said it was "mind-blowing" to join directors ranging from David Lean to Ken Loach on the list of BFI Fellows.

"I first walked into the BFI library and cinema 28 years ago," he said in a statement.

"To think that I will now be a fellow and honorary member, with such a distinguished list of people, is mind-blowing. I'm humbly honoured."

12 Years A Slave was McQueen's third feature film

'Poetry and visual style'

BFI chairman Josh Berger said: "As winner of both the Turner Prize and an Academy Award, Steve is pre-eminent in the world of film and the moving image.

"He is one of the most influential and important British artists of the past 25 years and his work, both short and long-form, has consistently explored the endurance of humanity - even when it is confronted by inhumane cruelty - with a poetry and visual style that he has made his own."

McQueen began his career as a video artist and beat Tracey Emin to the Turner Prize in 1999. Since moving into feature film, he has won two Bafta Awards and earned a further three nominations.

Hugh Grant and Greg Dyke were bestowed with BFI Fellowships earlier this year. In 2015, the recipients were Cate Blanchett and Mel Brooks, while Stephen Frears and Al Pacino joined the exclusive club in 2014.